Centos – PHP cant write files regardless of permissions

After more research it seems like another (possibly better way) to answer this would be to setup the www folder like so.

1. sudo usermod -a -G developer user1 (add each user to developer group)
2. sudo chgrp -R developer /var/www/site.com/ so that developers can work in there
3. sudo chmod -R 2774 /var/www/site.com/ so that only developers can create/edit files (other/world can read)
4. sudo chgrp -R www-data /var/www/site.com/uploads so that www-data (apache/nginx) can create uploads.

Since git runs as whatever user is calling it, then as long as the user is in the "developer" group they should be able to create folders, edit PHP files, and manage the git repository.

Note: In step (3): '2' in 2774 means to 'set Group ID' for the directory. This causes new files and sub directories created within it to inherit the group ID of the parent directory (instead of the primary group of the user) Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setuid#setuid_and_setgid_on_directories

Check your error log, it will tell you the problem. I think it will boil down to one of these four things:
- PHP safe_mode is enabled for the domain. The error log will make this clear.
- PHP open_basedir restrictions are in effect. Again, the error log will make this clear.
- You have the wrong document root
- A parent directory has the wrong permissons.

Also, change those permissions as soon as possible. If you're using PHP as an apache module, if your website gets compromised the attacker will be able to write custom PHP scripts and execute them at will via the browser.

If you're using FC13 and have acl enabled, consider using a setfacl instead of chmod -R 777 - it's a little more secure (only specified for given users) and easier to undo:
setfacl -R -m user:apache:rwx /path/to/webroot
setfacl -d -R -m user:apache:rwx /path/to/webroot.